The field of telecommunications has seen a tremendous change in the last decade. One of changes relates to the emergence of IP telephony as an alternative for conventional plain old telephony systems (POTS). In IP telephony, voice information is transmitted in discrete packets over packet switched communication networks instead of claiming a circuit switched connection in a telephone network for the entire duration of the telephone conversation.
Typically, users that desire to enjoy IP telephony services while using conventional plain old telephones need a residential network access device to adapt the outbound voice information to the IP telephony network and the inbound voice information to the requirements of the conventional telephone. Such network access devices are often complicated and require considerable preparation efforts from a user before the IP telephony service can be enjoyed. An example of such a residential network access device is disclosed in US 2006/079280. Similar problems are encountered for other types of IP services.